Escambia County will be looking into taking over the Innerarity Island Development Corporation water and sewer operations and infrastructure after the company abandons its assets.

Written by

| By T.S. Strickland
| tsstrickland@pnj.com

By the end of this week, the Escambia County Commission will assume full responsibility for a private utility on Innerarity Island, as well as the financial burden of up to $7.5 million in needed repairs.

That's the upshot of a ruling handed down Friday by Escambia County Circuit Judge Jan Shackelford.

The Innerarity Island Development Corporation, which had operated the utility in the southwestern corner of the county for the past four decades, told county officials in January it intended to abandon its assets on the island by March 28 - leaving a judge to decide who would be tasked with ...